Heat shielding for FWF wiring

[sbalmos]

I've read a few threads over this. What are some good practical recommendations for heat shielding the FWF wiring? I'm thinking mainly the CHT/EGT wires and my EFII injector wires. I've mentally run through wrapping with reflective heat protection tape, unhooking everything (a serious annoyance, but not out of possibility) and slipping on fiberglass sheathing - but which sheathing, bought from where? Could I slit the same sheathing, open it up down its length, slip it on connected wires, and glue it shut with sealant? Just safety wire it shut at the ends like I've read? Buy some of the flat fiberglass fabric at Spruce, wrap it around, and same idea - glue it? Anyone know of anything available at AutoZone, Lowes Aviation, etc? I saw a post a few weeks back about some neat new black sheathing, but can't find a distributor.

Just thinking this is one of those things I need a slight pointer, and the mental boulders all roll downhill from there.

[erich weaver]

I only used shielding around my wires where there was an identifiable risk of abrasion, and where they unavoidably passed in close proximity (a few inches) to exhaust pipes, which was very rare. 600 hours now with no heat-related FWF wiring issues.

erich

[DanH]

Wiring should not need heat shielding, unless run too close to an exhaust pipe, and then I'd re-route the wire.

When you absolutely must heat-shield (wires, control cables, whatever), best bet is a reflector over an insulator. So, bright foil on the outside, glass or ceramic fiber on the inside.

Fiberglass fabric alone isn't very effective, regardless of what it says in the hot rod advertising.

[sbalmos]

Logical common sense was telling me nearly the same, Dan. I've just always seen *some form* of heat wrapping over the bundle of sensor and other wires that are usually held against the sump and case (e.g. away from the exhaust pipes) as they run fore to aft. In my situation, I'm really only worried about where the CHT and EGT (especially the EGT) wires, along with the injector wires, necessarily route very closely to the exhaust tubes.

So maybe I'll just grab some "typical" fiberglass wiring sheathing, slit it open to slip over, and then seal it with heat-reflective tape. Is that too hacky?

[Bavafa]

I am happy to hear that heat shielding is not recommended as I did not do any of it, only routed away from any source of heat. But I do like to learn the reasons as why it is not recommended, if other than easy access for troubleshooting.

[snopercod]

After my first flight, I noticed that the insulation on the cables to my starter was brownish from the heat. So I wrapped them with Thermo-Flex. Problem solved. You can see the Thermo-Flex in the lower left of this photo:

[sbalmos]

Yeah, I was looking at picking up some of Thermo-Tec's Cool-It Express Sleeves from AutoZone. Same basic product, but slit open with a velcro-like closure system.